How to Detox Your Taste Buds

Seven Ways to Reduce Sugar & Salt Cravings

This time of year the voices of the great ‘tempters’ – sugar and salt – are ‘louder’ than ever in our ears.

One of the biggest issues dieters (and others wanting to eat more ‘cleanly’) complain of is that healthy foods simply don’t taste good. The truth is that our taste buds have simply forgotten what real food tastes like. Food manufacturers have spent decades optimizing their products for a “bliss point” – the right mix of fat, sugar and oil that makes us crave more of the same.

Here are some tips that will help our taste buds remember.

Tip #1 Eat less processed foods
This is a no-brainer. 70% of the sodium in a Western diet comes from processed food (restaurants, fast food, snacks and prepared supermarket food). The rest is added while cooking, at the table, or is found naturally in foods. So if you really want to cut down on your sodium, start reducing processed foods from your diet. The same idea holds true for sugar.

Tip #2 Choose frozen, not canned
Salt and freezers are both “preservers”, keeping food from spoiling. Choose frozen over canned veggies because they don’t need the salt to protect the food. They usually have a higher level of the original vitamins preserved compared to canned. If you do use canned vegetables, try rinsing them to get some of the salt out.

Tip #3 Delay salting
When cooking, add salt just before serving, and in a smaller amount than called for in the recipe. Each diner can then add salt to taste from a shaker at the table.

Tip #4 Gradual salt and sugar detox
Train your taste buds to enjoy less salty & sugary foods. Gradually reduce the amount of salt & sugar you add to your food and drink, and reduce the salty & sugary foods in your diet. After several weeks, your salt & sugar comfort zones will be smaller. If you keep at it, within a few months, you’ll actually start to dislike fast foods because they will taste too salty or sugary sweet!

Tip #5 A healthy sweet snack can help
Carrots or berries will satisfy a sweet craving without any negative consequences. From personal experience I know that sucking on a couple of Juice Plus+ Soft Chewables helps too; these are Juice Plus+ in a delicious ‘gummie’ form.

Tip #6 Eat more regularly
If you wait too long between meals (or snacks), your body will be signaling for the fat sugar salt combos, and your willpower won’t be strong enough to say no. But if you don’t get to that stage, you’ll have an easier time making the healthier choices.

Tip #7 Increase the plants in your diet (especially raw or lightly steamed)
As you replace processed food with fruits, vegetables, beans, seeds and legumes, your taste buds will change. You will experience what we call ‘metabolic reprogramming’ at a cellular level. Adding Juice Plus+ has the same effect.

The results of our own experience (I love spinach, kale, broccoli, etc. now!) and of the Juice Plus+ Children’s Health Study demonstrate this; children and adults eat more fruits and vegetables (because they want to), after taking Juice Plus+ for 4 months. This is even more pronounced after 1 year and 3 years on Juice Plus+: